Champlin Council approves plans for multi-street project

Champlin City Council moved forward with the reclaim and pave project consisting of Gettysburg Avenue, 123rd Avenue, Ensign Avenue and Jersey Avenue. The project also includes approximately $46,000 in citywide repairs.

The city held a public hearing at their June 11 meeting, where after review, three residents spoke. A significant concern for Mike Gagnon, a Jersey Avenue resident, was the issue of replacing street lighting. He was opposed to the cost of replacing street lighting in the residential area as he believes the current lighting is adequate. He expressed he has professional experience in street lighting work.

The council did approve plans and specifications for the project that excluded replacing the lighting in the Jersey Avenue portion. Their plan is to postpone the street lighting replacement until 2015, which is the timeline in which the street was initially scheduled for repair. Additional streets in the area are still on a timetable to undergo repair at that time and the Jersey Avenue street lighting replacement would be added to that project.

Gagnon said he appreciated that but was concerned that residents would have to fight against future replacement as he felt the lighting would be adequate through 2015.

Both Mayor Mark Uglem and Councilor ArMand Nelson indicated the city council can’t guarantee or predict what a future council would decide to do as new representatives could be the decision makers by then.

"We can never say what is going to happen in three years," said Nelson. But we can control now and we are doing that."

Exclusion of street lighting replacement lowers the overall project cost in the Jersey Avenue area by $57,000.

Assessment cost for property owners in the Gettysburg/123rd Avenue area is $81 per foot. Assessment cost on Ensign Avenue is $79 per foot. Along Jersey Avenue, the city employs a lot rate schedule of $2,012 per unit.

The project’s total estimated cost is $777,000. Assessments will cover $357,121 of the project cost. An additional $419,879 will be used from the city’s capital improvement revolving fund to supplement project costs.

The council’s timeline for the project anticipates awarding a contract July 23 with project completion by Oct. 15.